Sagacity
by Dave Ziegler
Summary: On her seventeenth birthday, Princess Serenity faces the Moon Kingdom's test of succession.


Disclaimer: Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon does not belong to me. It is the property of Naoko Takeuchi and Toei Animation. I'm not making any money off this story. So don't sue me, please. Thanks much.  
  
Author's Notes: Comments and criticism are always welcome. I can be contacted at ziggymd24@yahoo.com  
  
"Sagacity"  
  
By Dave Ziegler  
  
"What was mother thinking, sending me out here? There must be someplace closer. At this rate, I won't even return to the palace in time for my own birthday party!"  
  
Princess Serenity had long ago left the alabaster splendor and lush gardens of the royal palace behind. Even the paved streets and ordered homes of the surrounding city had faded into the distance hours earlier. She now wandered the outskirts - the edge of civilization on the moon. The atmosphere was thin here, and generations old buildings crumbled without care.  
  
It reminded Serenity of tales of vagabonds' dens heard from some of the more roughshod grounders who visited the moon. Could it be the tales weren't only true for Earth, she wondered. What if her parents had unwittingly ordered her into the very heart of thievery? Serenity shivered at the prospect, even with the breeze warming her back.  
  
"Get ahold of yourself, Serenity," the princess chastised herself. "You will never be found fit to rule if you falter before even reaching your birth test." She nodded resolutely at the admonishment, squared her shoulders, and resumed walking.   
  
Every girl of royal parentage faced a birth test on her seventeenth birthday. It was the Moon Kingdom's method of establishing succession. The tests varied from one generation to the next, usually adapting to the whim of the parents who arranged it. Serenity had heard horror stories concerning some and been told by others it wasn't much of an ordeal. The inconclusiveness of the information left her at a loss as to what to expect.   
  
An intact bench stood out like an isle amidst the sea of stone litter. It had probably been part of a veranda overlooking a past glory of the old city. Whatever the bench's original setting, Serenity was glad for its columned legs and wide seat, and happily sat upon it. She yipped in pain as she dropped her rear against the hard stone, and the vast skirts of her dress kicked up a voluminous cloud of dust.   
  
Serenity suffered a bout of unladylike wheezing while wildly swinging her handkerchief to help clear the air. Her cheeks colored once the cloud fully dissipated and she glanced furtively around to see if anyone had caught her immodest reaction.  
  
No one: only dust and debris. Serenity sighed in relief and set to trying to rub away the knots that were plaguing her stomach.   
  
As if having to take the birth test wasn't bad enough, word of indelicate behavior getting back to her mother filled Serenity with trepidation. The entire palace knew her mother had sworn to craft her into perfect royalty, and her various mishaps on this esteemed path became the gossips' lifeblood, both among the workers and the courtiers.  
  
"Princess?"  
  
Serenity screeched and leapt from the bench. She tried to spin to see who had spoken, but instead tripped on her skirts and fell face-first into the sand.   
  
"Ow." Serenity moaned as she scrabbled into a squat and switched her attentions from her stomach to the growing splotch of red on her face. Today was turning out to be her worst birthday ever; between the blisters from having to walk all this way to the ominous inevitability of the birth test to falling down to - to - to sitting here and wasting time while pirates, thieves, and who-knows-what sneaked up on her!  
  
"Don't come near me," Serenity warned as she hastily struggled to her feet. "I may look frail, but my father made sure I was well instructed in defending my honor!" Serenity jutted her fists out and bobbed jerkily back and forth.  
  
"Your honor need only worry about defending itself from you." The voice would have smirked had it a face.  
  
"Where are you?" Serenity demanded. She swung her head about, eyes darting, trying to locate the voice's owner, but there was no one to be seen.  
  
"If you would stop tossing yourself about and focus, you would see past your fretting and notice I am standing in front of you."  
  
"Oh." Serenity stilled and discovered a child staring intently at her. The little girl could not have been more than six-years-old, and was oddly pasty, even for a resident of the moon. She wore a rough blouse and skirt that looked about as comfortable as burlap, and had a mop of snow-white hair. Her eyes transfixed Serenity the most, however. They were a luminous red. The princess had never seen such colored eyes before.  
  
After a few moments of volleyed silence, Serenity realized she was staring and quickly began admiring some adjacent ruins. "You're an awfully small pirate," she said.  
  
"I am no more a pirate than you, Little Princess."  
  
"I guess not." Serenity burst into short lived giggles, then sighed and began to shake an accumulation of dust from her skirts. "So, what brings you out here? Have you come with your parents looking for artifacts?"  
  
"No. I awaited your arrival."  
  
Serenity offered the girl a bewildered look. "You did?"   
  
"Of course. I was told to expect you."  
  
How could this girl have been told to expect her? The only people who knew that she was coming were her parents - well, and the senshi. But the senshi would never dare interfere in her birth test. They respected her parents and their duty to the moon kingdom too much to make such a transgression. Which meant the child's presence was at her parents' behest.  
  
Serenity wondered about that. What possible use would this small girl be of at her birth test? She did not appear special in any way, at least not outwardly so as the senshi might. Even the magically inept could sense the power that filled their auras.   
  
Speculation would not answer the mystery. Serenity knew she would have to stop theorizing and directly ask the girl her purpose. Courage was needed! This would be a fine gauge of her ability before the real testing started.  
  
Hopefully she would pass.  
  
"Are you here to guide me to my birth test?" Serenity asked. She wiped at a smudge on her cheek with the handkerchief Aegea, her old nurse, had sewn for her eighth birthday.  
  
The girl shook her head. "No, I am here to administer it."  
  
"You're the oracle?" Incredulity laced Serenity's voice.  
  
"I am."  
  
"But - but - you're so young," Serenity stammered. "How could you possibly be able to judge my capacity to succeed as monarch? I'd warrant you've not even mastered longer books yet."  
  
A wry smile bent Oracle's lips. "I prophetized at your birth, Little Princess. Such arrogant presumption does not speak well of your ability to rule."  
  
This was it then, Serenity realized. She had come all this way and managed to destroy her future in a sudden fit of gigantic stupidity. What was it the tutors always preached? Ah yes: calm and patience, for they led to knowledge and insight. Serenity had been neither calm nor patient, and her blabbering had been so far removed from insightful as to probably make her tutors retch at the sound of it.  
  
Serenity collapsed in a heap of lace and ribbon. Tears plopped off her cheeks and mingled with the incorrigible dust to muddy her dress. A sardonic smile took hold of her face. The gown had been another stroke of brilliance. Who in their right mind wore finery on a journey such as this? Riding clothes would have been eminently more suitable.  
  
"I'm so stupid," she wept, stuffing her face against her arms. "I've let them all down. Mother, Father, Aegea, my tutors, even the senshi: they all encouraged and believed in me." Serenity hitched as she struggled to speak through the tears. "I failed without even knowing the test had begun!"  
  
Oracle threw her head back and laughed. It was strangely deep and tonal, like the sounding of the capitol's bell as it welcomed the king and queen home. Melodic though it was, Serenity did not appreciate Oracle's laughter. A sudden rage helped the tears abate, and it stained her face the color of Mars' skirt.  
  
"How dare you laugh?" Serenity's voice tore through the ruins and executed Oracle's mirth with the weight of an imperial decree. "I suppose it pleases you to fail a subject, to take the entirety of her life and crush it at your whim!" Serenity was shocked at her tone; she had only ever heard her mother produce such a regal sound before. She privately treasured the moment.  
  
"Forgive me," Oracle said. Her face and disposition were again sober. "I take no joy in other's plight and did not mean you any offense. Fear not, Little Princess," she soothed, "the test has yet to begin. Carry close that which brought forth your tears; it does speak well of you."  
  
"You mean I haven't failed?" Serenity perched between rapture and despair.  
  
"You have not."  
  
The angry flush drained from Serenity's face and her shuddering stilled. Then she threw herself at Oracle and captured the smaller girl in a tight embrace. "Thank you, thank you!" Serenity babbled. "I promise I won't let this opportunity go to waste. Calm and patience, knowledge and insight: that's the way for me!"  
  
She suddenly released Oracle and fell backward into the sand. Serenity grinned joyously at the constellations and other miscellaneous stars as if contesting her smile against their light.  
  
Oracle appeared somewhat bemused, and allowed Serenity a few moments to indulge in her elation. When she felt enough time had passed, she said to Serenity, "If you are finished celebrating, I would like to start the examination."  
  
"Oh." Serenity quickly sat up straight. "Oh, of course. How thoughtless of me." She gathered her skirts, brushed them off as best she could and presented herself to Oracle. "I'm ready."  
  
"Good. Then we shall begin."  
  
Serenity felt the knot in her stomach return, but fought it with deep, measured breaths. "What is my trial, Oracle?" she formally requested.  
  
"A vision of the future." Oracle knelt and began to draw runes in the sand with her fingers. Each completed symbol surged to life and glowed with a power Serenity could not identify. It was no wonder she hadn't been able to distinguish Oracle's aura. "I will show you the vision I had upon your birth," the girl continued. "You will either overcome it or be consumed."  
  
Oracle's red eyes suddenly held Serenity's. "I caution you," she said, "to think before you accept. This is no ordinary birth test. While success brings its reward, you will be sullied, and failure will cost you more than you know. Abdicate your lineage now, your claim to the throne, and you may live out the rest of your days happily."  
  
Serenity remembered those whose faces had coursed through her mind while she had sobbed at Oracle's feet. They were counting on her. They believed in her. She must believe in herself.  
  
"No," Serenity said. Her voice was firm and the regal intonation had returned. "I will not betray the love and trust so many have selflessly given to me." She faced Oracle. "I accept the challenge. Begin your test."  
  
"So be it, Little Princess."  
  
The runes flared, and Serenity had to shield her eyes from the brilliant explosion. It raced out and around them; soon the ruins were falling away, the sand was obliterated, and the stars washed out. The light effortlessly carved the scenery away, like a chef slicing his roast to the bone.  
  
When Serenity blinked away the last of the spots that dotted her vision, she and Oracle stood in front of the royal palace. Bright streamers decorated the promenade and the spires and domes of the palace proper sparkled in the soft evening light. Crowds of men and women adorned in finery and masks were chatting amiably while milling into the palace.  
  
"What's going on?" Serenity wondered. "Is it my party?" She looked to Oracle, who smiled and held a finger to her lips. Serenity pouted at the uncooperative gesture. "Can we go inside?"  
  
"If that is your wish," Oracle said. "It is your test and your decision."  
  
Serenity nodded. "Let us go then." She swept into the crowd of partygoers, easily adopting their measured yet bouncing step and bright smile. Even at her young age, Serenity was a veteran of many such galas. Oracle followed, but seemed to slip through the crowd like a snake navigating the underbrush.  
  
They arrived in the grand ballroom a few minutes later. The journey from the main gate was not necessarily long by oneself, but with so many guests meandering and gossiping the pace was hardly fleet.  
  
"Look at this," Serenity exclaimed. Everything in the ballroom, from the dishes to the walls to the clothes, glittered in concert. A complete orchestra filled the pit instead of the usual quartet, and throngs of waiters descended upon the guests with zealous fervor. Serenity hadn't seen anything this resplendent since her parents' twentieth anniversary celebration.  
  
"This is much too much for simply my birthday," Serenity concluded. "What's going on? I bet Mother hid something from me! She likes being sneaky and springing surprises. She thinks it makes her clever." The princess paused and frowned. "But I don't think I've forgotten any occasions of such import.  
  
"Please, Oracle," Serenity said, turning to her companion. "What does all this concern?"  
  
The child pointed past the dance floor and its crowd split down the middle, couples swinging to either side to create a corridor through which Serenity could direct her attention. She knew what they would find there; the royal box was situated at the head of the dance floor. Her mother and father would be seated, probably sipping wine and eating berries, while taking turns whispering in the other's ear.  
  
But only the queen's seat was occupied, and it wasn't by her mother.  
  
"Who is that woman?" Serenity demanded. She was startlingly beautiful, with gentle blue eyes, a quick smile, and fine white hair arranged in the royal style. A well-fitted gown accentuated her delectable figure.   
  
"Do you recall what I told you, Little Princess?"  
  
A vision of the future! Serenity was tempted to slap her forehead, but instead managed to simply look frustrated with herself. If this was the future, then it must be after her mother stepped down. That meant...  
  
"Oh my," Serenity gasped. "Is that - me?"  
  
"It is," Oracle responded. "She is you as you will be in seventeen years time."  
  
A young man and woman waltzed into the space left by the other dancers. Serenity shifted her now obscured view of the queen to the couple. The man danced with elegant grace, and was mysteriously handsome in his tuxedo and mask. She felt her heart pang in envy at the girl he held in his arms, but it settled into happy acceptance as she took notice of the girl's familiar features and hair.  
  
"Is that my daughter?" Serenity eagerly asked. At Oracle's nod, she beamed. "Good. I am happy to know she will find love that can etch such bliss upon her face. Selene knows I've tried to find such happiness."  
  
Oracle raised an eyebrow, but did not interrupt Serenity's vigil. Finally, the princess returned to her and said, "I suppose confirming my future happiness is not why we've come here."  
  
"No, but this was necessary."  
  
"Necessary or not," Serenity continued, "I thank you for it, Oracle. I will take this sight to my grave."  
  
"Indeed you will."  
  
Oracle snapped her fingers and the ballroom began to twist. The images wound and flexed, bundling knots and scoring chasms in the very air itself. A ratcheting groan built and the floor trembled. All at once, the tension broke and swirls of shape and color spiraled like a top set free. The air undulated for a moment and then smoothed itself over.  
  
They were still in the ballroom, but it had changed. The dancing, the music, and the lively guests were gone; the splendor was routed, and in its stead chaos reigned. Tables were upturned and banners shredded. The far wall had caved in, leaving a pile of rubble that sprouted limbs like stray hairs, and corpses and blood impertinently coated the once immaculate dance floor.  
  
Serenity's eyes widened and her mouth fell agape. "No," she gasped. She tried to turn away from the scene, but tripped upon a crooked arm. The tumble left her on her hands and knees in puddle of tacky blood and staring at the lifeless face of a child in a pink party dress. The hole in the girl's chest left little doubt a sword thrust had killed her.  
  
Serenity frantically scrambled away, slipping in the blood and stumbling over other bodies. A scream begged to be set free, but all she could manage were whimpers and stunted sobs. She fled the ballroom, but the remainder of the palace offered no solace or relief from the carnage.   
  
Outdoors was no better. Fires hurtled across the city like waves driving to shore. Buildings that had stood majestically only minutes before were nothing more than crumpled shells. The screams of battle and slaughter rampaged through the area.  
  
Serenity toppled down the outer stairs and onto the promenade. Discarded steel and cold stone battered her, and she pulled her arms and legs protectively around herself. She rolled to a stop and did not rise.  
  
How could this be the future? How could everything she loved fail in seventeen short years? Serenity paused in wonder. Could Oracle be lying to her? Could the test be to see if she gave herself over to despair in the face of catastrophe? If that was the case, then this wasn't true. Serenity raised her head and felt the beginnings of hope. This mustn't be the fu...  
  
The future princess drifted in front of Serenity.   
  
"No!" The scream that had been too long repressed found release and surged forward. Agony and anguish mingled, further blackening Serenity's once unmolested innocence. She lunged and pulled her daughter's charred body to her breast, cradling it as instinct told her to support a living infant.  
  
"No," Serenity sobbed, unable to articulate the ebon feelings. She pressed her face to the future princess' and wept.  
  
Her daughter's love was dead as well. His dashing tuxedo had been changed for a suit of armor, but he would have looked nonetheless as handsome if it hadn't been for his limp and twisted frame and the smoke that trickled from his still smoldering body.  
  
Serenity paid no heed to the acrid stench, and her eyes froze upon the woman who stood gloating over her children's bodies. Something welled inside Serenity she had never felt before. It felt like a smith's furnace had replaced her gut and its coals were spitting throughout her insides. She laid her daughter upon a clean stretch of cobblestone and faced the vile woman.  
  
"What will you do?" Oracle asked, suddenly at Serenity's side.  
  
"Tell me this is a fiction," Serenity pleaded, "that it is something you created for the test."  
  
Oracle squeezed her eyes shut. "It is all as I foresaw upon your birth. I've altered nothing."  
  
"Why? Is it even worth continuing if I know this is what awaits us?" Serenity spied a dirtied sword still clutched in the hand of its fallen wielder. She smiled greedily at it.  
  
"What will you do?" Oracle repeated.  
  
Serenity knelt by the slain soldier and slid his fingers from the sword's hilt. "Perhaps I should join my daughter and her lover?" she asked dazedly. "I would see their happiness in the afterlife." Her gaze suddenly shifted to the crowing figure of Beryl. "Or perhaps I should chance to avenge them?"  
  
Oracle watched as Serenity reached for the sword. "What will you do?" The princess' fingers settled just above its hilt. One last stretch and they would find the leathered grip. "Make your choice!"  
  
Serenity stopped.  
  
She pulled away from the sword and instead grabbed Endymion. Her arms closed around him, and Serenity drew him to her daughter, where she arranged their bodies together.  
  
"Be at peace," Serenity whispered. "Grasp what love could not give you in life and never let go." She collapsed upon them and the sobs returned, violently racking her slight figure.  
  
"Why do you cry?" Oracle demanded. "What of retribution? What of revenge? Does your heart not yearn to see their murderer's blood paint the promenade? Pick up the sword!" she commanded. "Kill the witch!"  
  
Serenity lifted herself from the children and faced Oracle. "I cry for them," she said, gesturing to Endymion and the princess. "I cry for the future they will never know, for the children they will never raise."   
  
Serenity rose to her feet; her back straightened and her shoulders squared. "I cry for the girl in the pink dress," she said, her voice firming, "and the wonders she might have accomplished."  
  
Another step brought her to Oracle, and Serenity loomed over the child. "I cry for a thousand husbands and wives whose sacred bonds have been ripped from them!" Her voice peaked, pushing all else away. Only Serenity's thunder sounded in the moon kingdom. "I cry for the butchered orphans who died weeping for their parents! I cry for my people," she shouted, flinging her arms wide, "for everything they are is lost!"  
  
Serenity collapsed upon the cobblestone and did not raise her head. "I cry for myself," she whispered, "and all the dreams I have lost this day."  
  
The illusion shattered. It was like standing inside a glass bowl carelessly knocked from the dinner table. Fissures ran crisscross through everything, and the shards exploded outward. They scattered across the dusty earth and faded from comprehension.  
  
Serenity found herself kneeling where Oracle had drawn the runes in the sand. She wondered how long it had been since the girl had cast her spell. Her body ached and her soul was afire. Serenity felt more seventy than seventeen.  
  
"Congratulations," Oracle said. "You conquered the vision. I find you fit to rule."  
  
"Am I?" Serenity questioned. She gazed helplessly at the albino girl. "I am not so sure, considering what will come to pass in my reign. Perhaps someone else would better guard us from such a fate?"  
  
"No," Oracle said, smiling contentedly. "You have proved yourself more worthy than any other to come before."  
  
"How could you possibly know that? Generations upon generations of queens have ruled the moon kingdom."   
  
Oracle winked and brushed her thick bangs away from her forehead. Serenity gasped at the brilliant crescent moon that shone upon her brow.  
  
"My name is Selene," Oracle stated, "founder and first queen of the moon kingdom. So, don't worry, Little Princess. I think I'm quite a capable judge."  
  
Serenity gaped. Was it even possible?  
  
"Mind you," Oracle continued, "it was necessary your test be special. I had to be absolutely sure - for the future's sake."  
  
"Be sure of what?" Serenity asked, finding her voice again. "You've shown me there is no future to be concerned for."  
  
"I gave birth to an age, Little Princess. The moon kingdom has endured for eons, as you well know. All that time I've watched over it, as the crystal asked of me, answering my children's call if they had need of aid. But the moon kingdom will die, as all things do.  
  
"It is not the end, though. Where death leaves a void, birth creates new life," Oracle said. "I had to be sure of you, because you will give life to the new age. Your daughter will forge it, but suffer greatly in the process. The hardships she faces will be many. She will require someone to answer her calls for aid."  
  
"Me?"  
  
Oracle caressed Serenity's cheek and offered a reassuring smile. "Yes, you. At mortal life's end, I offer you my office. I offer you guardianship of the Earth and your daughter's kingdom. Will you accept, Little Princess?"  
  
Serenity trembled beneath Oracle's touch, and tears slipped down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," the princess hitched.  
  
"Why do you cry?" Oracle whispered.  
  
A smile gently pulled Serenity's lips. "I cry for hope and the knowledge my daughter will live again." She dabbed her eyes and kissed Oracle's hand. "I accept your offer, my queen."  
  
"No, no," Oracle said, backing away. "My rule was over long ago, and my mission now complete." She bowed low to Serenity. "Yours is about to begin. Face it as you have this trial."  
  
Oracle turned from Serenity and walked away. As she moved, her body dissipated like a morning fog burnt away by sun's first light.  
  
"Wait!" Serenity called. She leapt to her feet and tried to chase Oracle, but only succeeded in driving her toe into the hem of her skirt and staggering to a stop. "You haven't told me about the test! What did you need to be so sure of?"  
  
Oracle spoke from the ether. "I had to see your choice. Hatred, power, might: they are ephemeral, Young Queen. You chose love. Love is enduring; love spans the greatest chasms and conquers the most untenable foes. That wisdom will create the future and save the moon from extinction."  
  
Silence followed, and Serenity knew Oracle was gone. "Thank you," she said anyway, positive the girl could somehow hear her. She curtsied and locked Oracle's final words within her heart. They resonated there, matching its every pulse. It was indeed wisdom.   
  
Serenity began the long walk back to the palace. There was much to consider, and she knew the time alone would do her well. She had thought the future was set, but only a portion had its place. What was her seventeen years compared to the promise of generations? She must live happily till the end called her to her duty and not waste away with despair. The future would be there for her daughter, her daughter's love, and the people they protected.  
  
When the time came, and her daughter's need was great, Serenity would offer this lesson: "Fight with love, for justice, in the name of the moon."  
  
[The End] 


End file.
